UPS proudly announced its fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles had expanded with the deployment of 50 next-generation hybrid delivery trucks to Philadelphia.

Problem is, unless Captain Picard is driving the thing there’s nothing remotely “Next Generation” about it.

These 50 new vehicles are technically not “alternative fuel” vehicles because they have no option to run solely on another fuel source, whether it’s gas, electricity, or love.

Like most hybrids, the vehicles are still primarily driven by their polluting internal combustion engine and there’s nothing the driver can do about it.

The vehicles have no plug-in option, and guess what happens if the vehicle runs out of diesel? Well you can forget crawling the vehicle to the next gas station, because it simply won’t budge on electric-only mode if it detects no “dinosaur juice” in the tank.

Yes of course there are fuel saving benefits to these vehicles, but let’s not delude ourselves that they’re “green” or “eco-friendly” because they’re simply not. No vehicle is eco friendly, but there are better alternatives to burning 3 gallons of gas to drop off a 5 lb package.

All-electric delivery vehicles are a major step in clearing the air, and they are cleaner to operate than diesels even when running off coal-fired electricity. If UPS wants to make a difference, they should be switching their local delivery fleet to 100% all electric.

Large electric vehicles do exist (for example, see www.smithelectricvehicles.com) and they operate at around $0.06 US per mile without a single fume. They’re cleaner, quieter, and cheaper to operate than the best “new generation” hybrid available.

UPS are putting a lot of effort into eco-friendly initiatives, yet they’re not focusing on renewable transport nearly enough. They have the resources to convert dozens of their existing vehicles to 100% electric using off-the-shelf components today.

UPS, Your money could have been better spent converting existing delivery vehicles. There, I’ve had my rant!